Stoner and Hayden satisfied with first test of 2010

Ducati Marlboro team riders make progress with the Desmosedici GP10 on second and final day of Sepang test.

Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden were both pleased with what they achieved across the two days of testing in Malaysia, despite the weather making Friday difficult.

With a wet track in the morning as a result of rain, Stoner opted to wait until 1pm local time before starting his final-day session. The Australian recorded a fastest lap of 2’01.320 – his best across both days – and expressed his happiness at the set-up work completed on the GP10.

“We are quite happy with the test. Today didn’t start really well because of the rain and the wet track, which set us back a few hours, but when it finally did dry out we were able to make some progress,” Stoner said. “We have definitely improved the set-up of the bike, trying some different things with the swingarm. The lap times are still not where we want them to be and we have to work on taking another couple of tenths off on hard tyres, but to be consistently doing 2’01.9 or 2’02.0 laps is a decent pace.”

He continued: “Considering that we are using a different engine to the one we’ve had for the last three years and some other new parts that we still need to get the best out of we certainly can’t be unhappy with where we’re at. There is work to do but we have two more test sessions before the season starts for real. In general I am really pleased with how it’s gone.”

Hayden decided to take to the track just after 9am and was pleased with what he viewed as a constructive test, but admitted his frustration at the return of the rain later in the day.

“I am satisfied but I could be happier,” the American stated. “These past two days have flown by and the weather hasn’t helped us to make the most of the track time available. Anyway, this morning we got the chance to find a wet setting for the new forks and engine. When we went out in the dry I could feel an instant improvement on yesterday and I set a decent pace but then we didn't improve further. I would have liked to post a better lap time but just when we put some new tyres in the rain came back. However, it was a very positive test and I can’t wait to get back to work at the next one in a couple of weeks’ time.”